Snakerocks
|books=''Mapleshade's Vengeance, ''Pinestar's Choice, Goosefeather's Curse, Crookedstar's Promise, Bluestar's Prophecy, Spottedleaf's Heart, The Prophecies Begin, Firestar's Quest, Secrets of the Clans, Code of the Clans, Battles of the Clans }} Snakerocks is a rock pile in ThunderClan terrtitory in the forest.As revealed by the official map in Secrets of the Clans and in all books where the action takes place at the forest. It is used as a hunting ground, but, cats must be careful to not be bitten by adders that call the rocks home. Description :Snakerocks is located in the forest territory of ThunderClan. It is east of ThunderClan camp, past the Great Sycamore. To the north of it lies the Thunderpath that borders ShadowClan territory. There is a leafy bank that spills onto the top of these rocks. :Snakerocks is a steep, tumbled pile of smoothed, sand-colored, rocks. It is quite a large area, as it is able to provide shelter to animals larger than cats, such as dogs. The rocks are a good place to find chervil and yarrow, but, serve as a dangerous site due to the adders that are found more commonly. It is unsafe for untrained apprentices to venture to Snakerocks alone due to the adders. :Despite being used as a hunting ground, Snakerocks attracts little prey outside of adders due to the snakes. The adders often hide in the crevices of the rocks. Foxes have also been known to hang around Snakerocks at times too. To avoid the adders, ThunderClan cats usually hunt during leaf-bare, when it is too cold for the snakes. Mythology : The legend, "How Snakes Came to the Forest", tells how a giant snake named Mouthclaw lived at Snakerocks and terrorized the Great Clans. Cats were forbidden from going to Snakerocks due to the leaders being afraid of losing more warriors to her. However, one LionClan warrior, Sunpelt wanted to prove how great of a warrior he was and to earn the respect of the forest. :He challenges Mouthclaw and they fight for the entire day, the young warrior dodging her attacks, eventually tiring the great snake. In the end, Mouthclaw asks the warrior to spare her life, and in return she will grant him one wish. Sunpelt wishes that she would shrink to the size of a cat's tail. Mouthclaw goes up in a cloud of dust, to reveal a thousand, much smaller snakes. Sunpelt is scolded for his actions by his leader, but, is also praised that because of him, no more warriors would be eaten by snakes. Known deaths *Swiftpaw }} History In the The Prophecies Begin arc Into the Wild :Lionheart and Tigerclaw show their apprentices, Firepaw, and Graypaw around ThunderClan territory. Lionheart mentions to the two apprentices that they will avoid Snakerocks, despite making the trek back to camp longer. The warrior tells Firepaw that an untrained apprentice is easy prey for an adder. :Later on, Tigerclaw sends Ravenpaw to hunt at Snakerocks. The apprentice leaves for his task, with Graypaw commenting that its no easy task to hunt there as birds and mice tend to stay away because of the adders. Fire and Ice :Fireheart takes his apprentice, Cinderpaw, on a tour of the territory and they visit Snakerocks. Fireheart berates her for rushing headlong up the rocks, where she could have chanced upon, and been bitten by an adder. He tells her that a bite from one of the adders could kill a cat her size. They soon leave to continue the tour of the territory. :Cinderpaw later leaves to take a message to Tigerclaw, against her mentor's word. Fireheart races past Snakerocks to get to the Thunderpath. There he finds Cinderpaw motionless, having been hit by a Monster. Tigerclaw is there, and soon Darkstripe arrives telling the brown tabby that he found no traces of ShadowClan at Snakerocks. :Later, a patrol heads to the shared border with ShadowClan. The ThunderClan warriors reach Snakerocks by the time they pick up ShadowClan scent. ''Forest of Secrets :Tigerclaw takes a patrol to Snakerocks, stating to Bluestar, that no one had hunted there for a few days. She tells him that that would be wise and that she prays StarClan will thaw the forest soon. :When Silverstream is giving birth, Fireheart looks for Yellowfang, asking Cinderpaw where the older she-cat was. Cinderpaw tells him that she was at Snakerocks to find yarrow, as it is one of the better places to find the herb. A Dangerous Path :Whitestorm reports to Fireheart that his patrol had found trampled undergrowth and pigeon feathers. Fireheart asks the senior warrior if another Clan had been hunting on their territory, to which Whitestorm tells him that they had also found dog dirt. :Later on, Fireheart takes Mousefur and her apprentice, Thornpaw there. While there patrolling, they scent dog still there. Fireheart is unnerved by this and tells the patrol to look around the area to investigate. They find more feathers, scraps of fur, and more dog dirt. The patrol leaves to report back to Bluestar about their findings. Fireheart tells Bluestar that he thinks there is a dog loose in the forest due to what they'd found at Snakerocks. :To prove themselves to Bluestar, Swiftpaw and Brightpaw decide to go to Snakerocks to find out where all the scraps of prey have been coming from. The two get attacked there by the dogs, causing Swiftpaw's death and Brightpaw's disfigurement. :Fireheart and Brackenfur take their new apprentices, Bramblepaw and Tawnypaw on a tour around the territory, but not Snakerocks. :Longtail tells Fireheart that he'd been to Snakerocks and had smelt Tigerstar there a few times. The tabby warrior tells the ginger deputy that the dogs were living there, after Fireheart accuses him of trying to trick him. The deputy organises a patrol to investigate what is happening at Snakerocks. They discover the cave in the rocks where the dogs have been living, pointing out the rabbit laid out for them. The patrol makes the terrifying realisation that Tigerstar had left a trail of dead rabbits back to ThunderClan camp. :Fireheart's patrol returns to ThunderClan camp and alert the Clan of what they had discovered at Snakerocks. ''The Darkest Hour :Mousefur leads a patrol to Snakerocks to check that all the dogs are gone and that there were no ShadowClan cats in the territory. She takes Goldenflower and Longtail with her. :Firestar leads another patrol with Mousefur and Thornpaw at Snakerocks. Thornpaw scents the air, detecting faint traces of many animals, including dog. But, the apprentice also scents other cats, but, not Clan ones. The three cats check the area, determining that they had just missed the strange cats. With Firestar's word, Thornpaw leads the group to investigate where the scent came from. In the The New Prophecy arc Midnight :Thornclaw leads a patrol consisting of Brambleclaw, Ashfur to Snakerocks. Whilst there, they come across Squirrelpaw, who had followed them. The apprentice scents badger. Brambleclaw also scents it, but, much stronger and soon the badger attacks the group. The patrol gets away safely and reports back to Firestar about their findings. Firestar tells his warriors not to hunt at Snakerocks until the badger moves on. :Cinderpelt later tells Leafpaw that Snakerocks is the best place to find chervil. However, they can't go there because of the badger. ''Moonrise :Firestar reports to his Clan of Monsters leaving the Thunderpath near Snakerocks, pushing trees over and tearing into the earth. The leader assures his Clan that it is possible the destruction won't come closer to their camp. He arranges for there to be extra patrols and to speak with ShadowClan about the issue. Firestar takes Graystripe, Cinderpelt, Leafpaw, and Brackenfur with him past Snakerocks to the ShadowClan border. Dawn :Spottedleaf appears to Squirrelpaw in a dream and takes her through Snakerocks on the way to finding the cages where the missing cats are kept. Squirrelpaw and Sorreltail go past Snakerocks trying to rescue those cats. When they think a Twoleg is going to catch them, they run to Snakerocks. In the ''Super Editions Bluestar's Prophecy :When Bluepaw and Snowpaw go hunting, Bluepaw spots a rabbit, and it disappears down a hole. Bluepaw insists on following it, and they both squeeze into the hole. Snowpaw is worried that might get lost, but Bluepaw realizes that the tunnel is sloping upwards. There, she can smell stone and lichen, and the sharp tang of pines. She knows they are near Snakerocks. Once reaching the top, they encounter a fox which had killed the rabbit. Suddenly, lightning strikes, and the fox's shadow is thrown upon Snakerocks while it chases the two. Bluepaw keeps it away from the camp, and lightning strikes a branch down, scaring the fox away. :When RiverClan takes Sunningrocks, Pinestar doesn't do anything to get it back. Adderfang mumbles that he shouldn't have, as this will make them look weak. ShadowClan may as well be helping themselves to Snakerocks next. Bluefur purrs that they can have Snakerocks, as there are too many snakes and not enough prey anyway. :On Bluefur's first lead for a hunting patrol, Thistlepaw asks where they're going to hunt. Bluefur blurts that they'll hunt at Snakerocks. Adderfang looks at her cooly, acknowledging that it'll be risky, but no cat's hunted there for a moon. When they get there, Bluefur tastes the air for any sign of foxes, but the scent is stale. She makes Thistlepaw stay guard for the patrol anyway to watch for danger. Bluefur catches a mouse, and brings it back, telling Thistlepaw to guard it as well. He gets mad, and often tells fake warnings. When Bluefur finds a juicy plump rabbit, Thistlepaw warns her that there is a dog. Bluefur ignores this, due to his past lies. He yells again, and this time, there is fear laced in his voice. The dog races out, and everyone climbs up trees. Bluefur, still clinging onto the rabbit, waits for the dog to go away. It eventually leaves, but later follows them into the forest, where Thistlepaw beats the dog. Firestar's Quest : A patrol made up of Firestar, Willowpelt and Sootpaw discover a badger living at Snakerocks. The badger lunges forward to attack Sootpaw, but Willowpelt flings herself in front of Sootpaw to protect him, and the Badger kills Willowpelt. Firestar is devastated that he couldn't reach Sootpaw and protect Sootpaw himself. The patrol leaves Snakerocks with Willowpelt's body. In the Field Guides ''Code of the Clans :In the fifth story, Longtail and Darkstripe go to hunt at Snakerocks, where they break the third code. Longtail catches a squirrel, which the two eat. ''Battles of the Clans :When Tigerstar is showing the visitors around the forest territories, he explains the story about the dogs at Snakerocks. :Graystripe, the ThunderClan deputy, calls the Gathering at Snakerocks because of the foxes that threatened Fourtrees. At Snakerocks, the idea of using each Clan's strength to drive the foxes away from the sacred place is proposed, and is later launched into action. :When Lionpaw runs away from the fight between Sunfall, Swiftbreeze, Bluepaw and Foxheart, Crowtail and Cloudpaw, he runs all the way to Snakerocks In the Novellas ''Mapleshade's Vengeance :At the Gathering, Oakstar announces to the Clans that ThunderClan warriors had tracked adders to their nest and blocked them up with stones and that thanks to their thinking, no adders had been spotted in the territory. :Mapleshade ambushes Frecklewish at Snakerocks, after the death of her kits and her exile. The rogue she-cat blames the ThunderClan warrior for the deaths of her kits. She goads Frecklewish into attacking her, which causes Frecklewish to get bitten by an adder at the rocks. Mapleshade leaves the she-cat to die, but, watches as the rest of the warrior's patrol arrive and try and save her. Pinestar's Choice :Nettlebreeze recalls the story of Mapleshade attacking Frecklewish at Snakerocks to the apprentices. He tells them that the two she-cats fought and that Frecklewish had venom spat into her eye by one of the resident adders. Goosefeather's Curse :Swiftpaw goes missing, Doestar tells Pineheart to send patrols out and look for her. She tells him that Snakerocks and the Thunderpath have been covered. The leader turns to Rooktail and Flashnose and murmurs to them that they have looked as far as Snakerocks and found no trace of their daughter. :Goosefeather is at Snakerocks when he watches a vision of Mapleshade and Frecklewish's encounter at the rockpile. Spottedleaf's Heart'' :Spottedpaw has a dream that she is being chased by a fox, and runs past Snakerocks to try and evade the animal. :Later on, Spottedpaw is at Snakerocks with Thistleclaw as the two of them talk about her becoming a fine warrior. Her mentor, Thrushpelt is later patrolling with her and he suggests to try hunting at Snakerocks as to not come back to camp empty-pawed. :Tawnyspots sends Stormtail on a patrol to Snakerocks and beyond to check if there are rogues, the deputy adding that they had recently chased some off and wanted to check if they had left the territory. Spottedpaw later goes after him, noticing that the warrior wasn't at full health. She finds his patrol, and then finds him collapsed and gets the other warriors to bring him back to camp. Notes and references de:Schlangenfelsenlt:Gyvačių Uolosfi:Käärmekivetnl:Slangenrotsenes:Rocas de las Serpientesfr:Rochers aux Serpentsru:Змеиная Горкаpl:Wężowe Skały Category:Locations